In the news
■ Kincaid Eaker, 13, of Farragut, Tenn., who was born with polycystic kidney disease, a chronic genetic condition that killed his two older brothers in their infancy, received a new kidney after a donor was found on Christmas night, his family reported.
■ Eduardo Valenzuela faces charges that include criminal threats after authorities say a woman who entered a McDonald’s in Lodi, Calif., to use the restroom asked employees to call 911 and then mouthed “help me” from a car in the drive-thru window just before police arrived.
■ Elton John is among the more than 1,000 recipients of Britain’s New Year’s Honors for merit, service and bravery whose home addresses were mistakenly published when the Cabinet Office announced the recipients list, and the information commissioner’s office said it is investigating.
■ David Hastings, 68, a former sheriff’s lieutenant in Greene County, Mo., was sentenced to six consecutive life terms in the sexual abuse of an 8-year-old girl, with Judge David Jones saying during the sentencing hearing that he hopes Hastings never leaves prison.
■ Talunda E. Martin Smith, 35, a school bus driver in Augusta, Ga., was charged with second-degree cruelty to children, accused of failing to activate the bus’s flashing lights or stop signs until after a 12-year-old girl was hit by an SUV.
■ Chad Davis, park superintendent at Joe Wheeler State Park near Rogersville, Ala., said it will be a huge undertaking to remove debris after a tornado knocked down trees and damaged buildings in the park, but a nonprofit group is accepting donations to aid in the cleanup.
■ Thomas Alms, 64, a dentist in Mt. Vernon, Mo., has surrendered his license rather than face disciplinary action from the Missouri Dental Board, but still faces criminal charges of arson and theft related to a blaze and reported insurance scheme at his office.
■ Jerry Taylor, a former police chief in Creola, Ala., and Kim Green, a former city clerk, face ethics and theft charges over nearly $70,000 missing from coffers of the city near Mobile, a prosecutor announced.
■ Christina Koch, 40, an electrical engineer from Livingston, Mont., set a record for longest single spaceflight by a woman, breaking the previous milestone of 288 days, and still has two months left in her deployment aboard the International Space Station.